101 Things to do in Jakarta

#1 - Visit Monas or Monumen Nasional

Monas, affectionately known as Sukarno's last erection is a huge (137 metres) spire shaped building in a park in South Jakarta. You can get an elevator to the top but expect to queue about two hours to get there. It's made of white Italian marble and has 32kgs of gold paint on a flame top.

There is a decent national museum underneath for about 50 cents entry. Worth a look.

Jakarta's traffic is ridiculous. Trips from airport can take 1 hour up to hours to get into the city. Bring a book or movie with you in the car. Expect to take at least an hour to get anywhere. I was took 6 1/4 hours to get home from North Jakarta. If it rains expect it to be worse.

These menacing orange three wheeled motorized rickshaws are supposed to be gone, but the government just cannot get ride of them. Noisy, smelly and polluting they are a cheap means of beating the traffic jams. 10,000 or 15,000 for a short ride.

Wander around old Batavia, it's a bit run down but the old buildings and museums are worth a visit. (National Museum, Puppet Museum, Money museum, Bank Museum) + Fatihillah Square where you can hire bicycles, people watch or buy an icecream.

Wikipedia says;
"Kota (Indonesian: Kota Tua Jakarta), is a small area in Jakarta, Indonesia. It is also known as Old Jakarta, and Old Batavia (Dutch: Oud Batavia). It spans 1.3 square kilometres of North Jakarta and West Jakarta (Kelurahan Pinangsia, Taman Sari and Kelurahan Roa Malaka,Tambora).Kota is Indonesian word for "city", it was the reminiscent of the vicinity during colonial times in 16th century that the city was only within Batavia walled compound (today Kota), while the surrounding areas was only kampung (villages), orchards, and ricefields. The largely Chinese down town area of Glodok is a central part of Kota."

Cuci Mata (literally wash your eyes) but means window shopping or to have a good perv on a member of the opposite sex. Indonesian girls like to dress up for the mall, so there's always plenty to look at when you visit places like Plaza Indonesia, Plaza Seneyan and Grand Indonesia. Lower end malls such as BlokM Plaza or Pasaraya apparently are good for more than just looking, even during the middle of the day. (So I've been told).

BlokM Plaza has the floors set on a weird angle that spirals downwards so you can go to the 6th floor and wander all the way down without using an escalator.

A worthy addition. BlokM is located in South Jakarta and actually is only a small street called Jalan Faletehan that holds a collection of bars with a large number of young women. Once almost the only place expats could find a western style pub/bar it's heyday is perhaps a little bit of history now, but still an old reliable place to find beers, pool, live music and many ladies of ill repute until 4,00 or 5,00am.

Some bars have a few shows and dancers, there's even rumours of special VIP rooms where anything goes. Average age of expat clientele is probably 50 years old and Jl. Faletehan has the largest proportion of ex SAS and ex Special Forces soldiers in Indonesia.

Let's get down to the nitty gritty and unleash the "Darkside" of Jakarta.

You know, the places that Smeg and Socal would shoot some pool.

Funny you should mention them....

#10 - Hang out at 7-Eleven

Five years ago the first 7-Eleven arrived in Indonesia, last year they made 57 billion IDR. They sell beers and wines and offer tables out the front to sit around and drink and eat. (The staff will even open your beers as you buy them. Better yet they are open 24 hours.

# 11 Fishing in the street
(sorry no photo )
I was there last time about 15 years ago
I saw people fishing like Eskimos in an ice hole , except the hole was through some crack between big concrete blocks they had somehow managed to hoist up a little
Must have been some river flowing underneath or something ?
anyway the people doing it had a zen like coolness so I'll nominate it as number 11

So get your rods out and catch your free dinner in Jakarta.

# 12 buy some batik art

the department stores were the best places , maybe still are
I was going to start a thread on them a while back with my small collection , but they don't seem to photograph well, at least with my camera ,,

Indonesians love to eat. All the time. There are numerous little 'warungs' and 'kaki lima' who accommodate this. Try a snack of satay on the way home from work, some noodles during a meeting or a late night snack on the way home from a nightclub. You can also practise your bahasa Indonesia also!

Mingle with backpackers, bohemian types, Nigerian drug dealers, ladies of ill repute and ladyboys. Cheap beers, cheap hostels and all sorts can be found down here. It may not be Thailand's KSR but it's certainly a place to check out. A general lack of tourism to Jakarta has reduced the nightlife aspect of this 400metre street but jalan jaksa still manages to offer a selection of services helpful to the average budget tourist including travel agencies, second-hand bookstores, money changers, laundries, pubs, etc

Good thread Willy, stayed at Kartika Plaza and the Menteng hotel in years gone while working at Merak and often wonder how life is there now.
I really like Indonesia, hard working folk with a smile but not been there for 20 yrs. so maybe it is all changed now.

Good thread Willy, stayed at Kartika Plaza and the Menteng hotel in years gone while working at Merak and often wonder how life is there now.
I really like Indonesia, hard working folk with a smile but not been there for 20 yrs. so maybe it is all changed now.

Yes and no. There's a few extra malls and tall buildings, loads more cars and bikes on the roads but that's about it. The roads are still crap quality, the people are still smiling and friendly, the police and army are still corrupt.

Sunda Kelapa is the old harbour. Dozens and dozens of old traditional Pinisi ships line the edge here as the unload timber, concrete sand and fish via the traditional way.... flip flop wearing man power. You could also get a ride around theHarbour on a row boat for a few thousand rups.